Labyrinthine
by Magenta Fantasies
Summary: After a routine mystery and Treasure Animatus taming, Sophie and Lautrec stumble across a surprise. One-sided (or is it?) LautrecXSophie


**Labyrinthine**

"We got it!" Sophie cheered as the guardian spirit faded back into the treasure, rendering it safe to pick up. It was always exciting for her to tame Treasure Animatus and to see the types of guardians each treasure held. She could tell Lautrec felt the same way, even though he couldn't see the guardian spirits for himself.

In fact, Sophie knew only one person outside of her family that could see the guardian spirits of Treasure Animatus: André Bourroulec. She recalled the time the young boy had purchased a map from Milady and found his way into a labyrinth. Thankfully he hadn't gotten himself hurt; Sophie hoped he wouldn't go in again. At the same time, it gave her a sense of camaraderie to know she wasn't the only adventurer who could see these spirits. She still remembered the first time she had gone into a labyrinth with Lautrec; he had been the first person she'd told about her abilities who didn't dismiss the notion or worse, assume she was insane for seeing and hearing spirits that no one else could perceive. With a burst of warmth, she remembered how impressed he had been with her ability.

"Let's get going," Lautrec packed the Tres-O-Matic into his rucksack and headed out of the chamber. Sophie wondered what it would be like to rely on a device to see Treasure Animatus, and not even to truly see it, but only to gain basic information like health and type.

She had to admit she enjoyed the walks out of the labyrinths almost as much as the walks in. Both were enjoyable for different reasons. It was always exciting to explore a new labyrinth for the first time, to sneak past the police, solve riddles and explore, but on the other hand, the walks out gave her time to appreciate the labyrinths for themselves. Though they were what most would call "dark, dank, and depressing", Sophie found a sort of beauty to them.

_Perhaps I just have odd aesthetic tastes, _Sophie figured. Doctor Lautrec wasn't what most would call attractive, either. Many people had asked Sophie what she saw in him, especially since he was around twice Sophie's age. He was known for being blunt and sarcastic, as well as speaking his mind without tact or shame. Though he was very tall and thin, he carried himself with a certain poise that kept him from appearing gangly. His beady eyes gleamed from above his sharp hooked nose and the thick chocolate curves of his moustache, always alert and perceptive to every detail when it came to mysteries. When it came to anything else, he could be very obtuse. If Treasure Animatus was on his mind, he would pay attention to nothing else. Even if they found other potentially-valuable treasures, these were of no interest to him. Lautrec was the _only_ person who didn'tpick up on Sophie's affections towards him; even Marie figured it out after being around them a day or two.

"Look!" Before Lautrec could respond, Sophie ran over to a waterfall trickling from a crack in the ceiling. As it poured down, it widened into a stream, a gray satin ribbon weaving into a pool at the base of the rocks. "It's not often you run into an underground river."

"I have no interest in geological features," Lautrec replied placidly. "And I wouldn't call that a river." Before he could move on, Nico jumped out from under Lautrec's top hat and ran over to the water. The small monkey perched on the edge of the pool, watching his reflection change as he pawed at the ripples.

"Well, don't you at least think it's beautiful?" Sophie sat down on one of the rocks at the edge of the pool. It was a small pool, large enough for a few people to fit in, and deep enough that she figured she could stand on the bottom. The tips of Sophie's shoulder-length blonde curls were soaked with the cold clear water as she peered into it. She could see the glitter of crystals at the bottom of it, matching the crystals that grew from the walls.

"I suppose." Lautrec sounded as if he'd had to think about it for a moment.

"They say crystals like these form where there are underground rivers carrying certain deposits," Sophie mused, running her fingers along the wall. "It's been a long time since we've found one of these beneath Paris. I think it's just lovely." She chipped off a smaller crystal and stuck it in her rucksack.

Lautrec stood, taking a step forward. His black shoes skidded against the slippery rocks and he fell backward. Sophie shot up from her seat to grab him. Before she even knew what she was doing, her arms were firmly entwined around his torso, and her lips were inches from his. Lautrec's expression froze as Sophie closed the gap, but he didn't budge. They didn't even notice as they hit the labyrinth floor, falling together.

"Sophie?"

"Y-yes, Doctor?" Sophie's blue eyes widened as Lautrec spoke to her. She knew she had been out-of-line to kiss him like that, but she couldn't help it.

"Sophie. Sophie! Sophie Coubertin!"

"Huh?" Sophie blinked as the labyrinth's darkness faded into the crisp blue and white hues of Lautrec's laboratory. She was at sitting at her desk with a pile of papers in front of her. Every inch of the papers were covered in signatures, some script and some handwriting, but all spelling out "Madame Sophie Lautrec." She looked up at Lautrec. He was sitting at his desk across the room, regarding her with a deadpan expression.

"Daydreaming again, Sophie?"

"Uh, well, you could call it that," A soft blush crept across Sophie's cheeks. She hastily pulled out a wooden box with a metal latch. Only a few other items were inside; clippings from books, fragments of a crystal and a locket her mother had given her. She stuffed the papers into the box, locked it, and stuffed it back into the desk compartment.

"You really are a mystery sometimes," Lautrec dismissively shook his head and stood up, grabbing his long black jacket with its high collar off the nearest coat hanger. "Speaking of mysteries, I've been analyzing this map, and I now have a few leads on where the labyrinth entrance might be. Come along, Sophie."

"Yes, Doctor!" _There is no mystery you can't unravel. _Sophie refrained from giggling as she pushed in her chair, following Lautrec down the ladder and out the door.

_Someday I hope you unravel me._

* * *

**Comments:**

I'm surprised at how fast I wrote this; it only took about an hour and half (counting some time where I had a quick snack), whereas it would usually take me that long to write half this amount. Though, to be fair, I had about a quarter or a third of the ideas already written down before I officially started writing.

I've wanted to write a fanfic for Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights for a while now. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a very underrated 3DS game that came out in late 2011. It's not really in a particular genre; it markets itself as a puzzle game, à la Professor Layton, but the actual puzzle elements aren't that prevalent (well, depending on what you count as "puzzles". Arguably, the stealth and platforming sections, as well as the Treasure Animatus battles, could count as puzzles as there is a lot of strategy involved). Though the gameplay is solid, it gets somewhat repetitive. However, the characters and the storyline are so entertaining that the repetitiveness of the gameplay is rarely bothersome, and you always want to know what happens next.

I got the game towards the end of summer; I just happened to see it new (it was the last copy; in retrospect I had really good luck, since it's kind of an obscure game) and in the Gamestop in the mall, so I bought it on a whim. Buying games "blind" (that is, without playing them or doing a lot of looking into them first) almost always works out for me; that's how I discovered great games like Blinx and Jet Set Radio Future. In any case, I really enjoyed it. :D

In any case, I absolutely adore this pairing (I rather like Claude X Milady as well). It's one of those unusual pairings where I like it almost as much one-sided, with Sophie in love with Lautrec, but him being completely oblivious to it though every other character in the game knows how Sophie feels about him, as I do with Lautrec and Sophie in an actual relationship. Besides, I like "adventure couples", or more properly in this case an "adventure_r_ couple", (though Lautrec refuses to call himself an adventurer).

One reason I had fun with this story was the ambiguity. I decided to leave it up to the reader whether the labyrinth scene actually happened, was purely wishful thinking or something in-between that has some truth to it, but Sophie's imagination got the better of her.

What do you think?


End file.
